Living the Life of an Artist are thoughts and life happenings that surround me as continual questions, self-doubt, and distractions (okay and perhaps down right laziness) get in the way of being creative.
I want to explore this aspect of being creative. What happens when life gets in the way? How do we move past the self doubt?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Living the Life of an Artist

Yesterday I went back to working on my novel. I’d not written in a couple months, but it did not take me long to get involved. As a matter of fact, the story consumed me all day, so much so that when Ma’s visiting nurse was leaving, I was all mixed up which day of the week it was.

Then this morning, it starts in again. I keep thinking of things to add. I jot down notes as I am trying to get other things done. When I was in the shower, a whole big scenario worked itself out and I was excited, but the minute I got dried off, that whole scene was gone. (The Muse teasing me.) Still, though, other scenes, dialogue, and ideas are rolling off my mind like clouds going by on a windy day. I cannot possibly record it all.

This happens to me, this total involvement in the story. It’s like it takes me over and I can’t stop thinking about it. One of the problems is that it jumps around quickly. A scenario will be running in my head and then logic kicks in to realize that for this to happen something in a previous chapter would have to change to lead up to this moment. Another problem is that in my mind everything moves so fast that there’s no way I can capture it on paper or typing. I have to rein the mind in and that slows some of the creativity.

I am disappointed that my descriptions are lacking. I have no trouble with action and dialogue, but describing people and being able to talk about their clothes are a real issue. I want to talk about this with other writers... the writing process….

I am sooo excited about this story! BUT… and I am ashamed to say… the main character was a minor character in someone else’s story and the world these people live in are from that other author’s fantasy series. I have added new characters and other stories. I don’t feel I have it in me to create new worlds but I absolutely can get into creating new characters and new storylines. Who knows, maybe I can eventually sell this story to that other author.